Does supranationalism bring out the best in us? “The Daleks’ Master Plan”

By Danny Nicol
University of Westminster

“The Daleks’ Master Plan” (1965) is one of the most ambitious Doctor Who sagas of the show’s history.  It is a twelve-episode space odyssey which (despite a measure of padding) builds to a thrilling climax.  The plot involves a group of alien leaders who form a Universal Council in which they are allied to the Daleks.  This Council plans to unleash a weapon of mass destruction, the Time Destructor, with which it can conquer the Universe.   It has recruited the Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen, as one of its members.  Doctor Who’s script editor at the time, Donald Tosh, has suggested that the Universal Council is a satire on the United Nations. 




Plotting with the Daleks:
 the Universal Council plan the conquest of the Universe



The plot of “The Daleks’ Master Plan” raises a vital political and constitutional question.  Throughout the period in which Doctor Who has been broadcast, supranational organisations have become more and more prominent in our country’s politics.  To what extent can these organisations be reformed in a progressive direction?  In the recent UK general election Plaid Cymru The Party of Wales argued for reform in the European Union, reflecting “the need for Europe to support its population, not international neoliberal corporations who have no responsibility to people”.  The Green Manifesto also sought EU reform, criticising “the EU’s unsustainable economics of free trade and growth”.

 

A bit green?  Plaid Cymru leader
Leanne Wood wants an EU for
the people not the corporations

But how realistic is this?  The policies which Plaid Cymru and the Greens don’t like are, for the most part, enshrined in the EU Treaties.  These can only be amended by common accord of the leaders of all the EU member states, with each state ratifying the changes in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.  The idea that every leader of every member state would wish to change the Treaties in an anti-corporate, anti-free trade direction requires an excessive dose of wishful thinking.  Yet this obstacle is studiously ignored by Plaid Cymru and the Greens.

 

Such excessive optimism regarding the progressive potential of the supranational regimes stems from the deeply-held assumption that international cooperation is a noble endeavour.  “The Daleks’ Master Plan” puts forward an altogether less favourable view.  It points to international governance as an escape from accountability.  Mavic Chen’s adoring public assume that the great leader is going off on holiday; in fact he’s off to plot with the Daleks in the expectation of becoming supreme ruler of the universe.  (In this regard it is easy to see the solar system as a metaphor for Britain: we’re told that “the solar system is exceptional. In its power lies influences far outside its own sphere”.  It’s the usual image of Britain punching above its weight.)    Other alien leaders have also kept their participation in the Universal Council a closely-guarded secret.

 

Unaccountable power: Mavic Chen
in league with the Daleks

 

It is well established that leaders increase their power through supranational forums since these serve to insulate them from pressure back home.  In this regard they come to resemble the very corporations “who have no responsibility to people” with which progressive critics of the EU are rightly concerned.